If you want to find the best games for Android, install the Feint Game Spotlight app from Open Feint. It might not look that impressive at the moment, but the popular social gaming network was just launched on Android and it’s going to explode this Christmas with tons of new games and features.

The best way to think of Open Feint is like Xbox Live for your phone. Right now on Android it powers high-score leaderboards, tracks acheivments, and allows you to connect with your friends. What Open Feint already offer is pretty cool, but they have some new features coming up that are going to blow you away.

Unless you came from an iPhone - most of you have never heard of Open Feint, but they run the largest mobile social gaming network in the world and it’s only going to get bigger now that Android is supported. They already have 40 million registered users (iOS + Android) and are adding 160,000 new users daily.

Since Open Feint started on iPhone, they already have strong relationships with most of the top mobile developers and they are now encouraging them to bring their games to Android. They are the reason we got Halfbrick Studios (Fruit Ninja) and PikPok (Flick Kick Field Goal), so be on the lookout for more high-profile iPhone devs (like True Axis) to make the jump soon.

Open Feint has a history of promoting games and getting their developers to the top of the “Most downloaded” lists and that tradition continues with Android. Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick Studios) and MiniSquadron (Supermono) claimed the Top 2 spots on the paid games chart in less than 72 hours after their release. In addition, half of the launch games (4 of 8) reached the Top 15.

What features are coming next?

I got to visit Open Feint’s offices last week and sat down with their founders to get a preview of what’s coming next to Android. They showed me their iPhone client which was years ahead of the Android version, but the good news is that most of those features will soon make their way over.

One of the major differences of the iPhone client is that all your account management takes place inside the Feint Game Spotlight app, instead of the actual game. This makes it easier to track all the games your friends are playing without having to wait for a game to load.

The iPhone client app also supports SMS & e-mail invites so you can share the games you love with your friends and challenge them to beat your high scores. Turn-based multiplayer with push-notifications is another cool addition that allows you to play games on your own schedule.

Overall, the iPhone Feint Game Spotlight is the game showcase we wish the Android Market could have been. It has video previews, game forums, and tons of other features you have been waiting for.

One of the most exciting features that is in development is called PlayTime multiplayer, which allows cross-platform, realtime gaming with voice chat. This means you can play the latest mobile games with your iPhone friends and talk smack as you beat them down. PlayTime also has the ability to “seamlessly mix realworld and artificial intelligence players” so multiplayer game won’t end if a player accidently drops offline.

Another feature in testing that might be more exciting to developers is Open Feint X, which is a virtual curreny platform that will let you sell virtual goods to your players.

Finally, we should also mention that Open Feint Gold and Free Game of the Day should make their way to Android in the coming months. Open Feint Gold highlights a hand-picked title that Open Feint works closely with the developer to integrate new features and Free Game of the Day is exactly like it sounds.

What games are coming next?

Open Feint just launched their second wave of games (12 total) and you can expect a regular stream of titles all the way through Christmas.

Add androidandme to your friends

After you install any Open Feint games, make sure to go to your friends list and search for androidandme. You will want to add us to your friends list so you can see what games we are playing, but most importantly we are going to run some contests soon with our favorite developers.

What are your favorite Open Feint games and which ones would you like to see us run some contests for?

OpenFeint Pushes Android Launch Games to #1 on the Paid Charts in Less Than 72 Hours
Smash Hit Super K.O. Boxing 2 from Glu to be included in Second Wave of Hit Games on Android This Week

Burlingame, CA — October 5, 2010 — OpenFeint, the leading cross platform social gaming network with 40 million mobile players, announced today that its Android product is off to a strong start – 4 of 8 launch games reached the Top 15 in Android Market and Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick Studios) and MiniSquadron (Supermono) claimed the Top 2 spots on the paid games chart in less than 72 hours. OpenFeint also announced the release of its second wave of hit games on Android, including Super K.O. Boxing 2 (Glu), Flick Kick Rugby (PikPok), and Kamikaze Race (Tastyplay.com).
“We’re absolutely ecstatic about MiniSquadron’s launch on Android with OpenFeint. Reaching number 2 on the paid charts and driving tens of thousands of downloads for our games has been a great success,” said Tak Fung of Supermono.
The second wave of Android games from OpenFeint launches this week and will include Super K.O. Boxing 2 (Glu), Flick Kick Rugby (PikPok), Touch Racing Nitro and Penalty World Challenge 2010 (Bravo Game Studios), Cestos 2: Party Time (ChickenBrick Studios), SpeedX (Hyperbees), Babo Crash Deluxe (Playbrains), Kamikaze Race (TastyPlay.com), Brain Twister Lite and Color Cocktail Lite (The Game Boss), Dot Dot (ustwo), and SkyForce (iDreams).
“Super K.O. Boxing 2 will make fantastic addition to the gaming community on Android,” said Mike Breslin, VP of Marketing at Glu. “OpenFeint’s social gaming platform offers an effective solution for developers and publishers to get their games discovered on Android and we’re excited to partner with them to bring one of our original hit titles to the platform.”
Each launch game will be featured in the Feint Game Spotlight app, which is quickly becoming the preferred destination for Android gamers to discover and purchase high quality games. Feint Game Spotlight is regularly updated with new games and offers gamers the chance to enter contests and win prizes.

OpenFeint’s cross platform social gaming network is adding over 160,000 new users daily and just recently eclipsed 40 million mobile players and 3,100 games. OpenFeint’s leading set of online gaming services and cross promotional tools are available to game developers through the company’s free, open source SDK.

“The past two weeks have proved to us that Android users are hungry for great games – and they’re willing to pay for top quality content. Over the next few months, we’ll continue to roll out games and help establish the paid gaming market on Android,” said Jason Citron, CEO of Aurora Feint, makers of OpenFeint. “We couldn’t be more excited about this latest Android release.”
Developers interested in implementing OpenFeint in their games can learn more and download the free, open source SDK at OpenFeint.com/Developers. Players interested in learning about more OpenFeint enabled games can download Feint Spotlight from the Android Market.

About Aurora Feint, Inc:
Aurora Feint Inc’s software development kit, OpenFeint, allows game publishers to implement services which enable mobile social gaming. With over 40 million registered users and a presence on over 3,100 games, OpenFeint is the largest mobile social gaming ecosystem for iOS devices and Android. Aurora Feint is backed by DeNA Inc and The9.

About Glu Mobile:
Glu (NASDAQ:GLUU) is a leading global publisher of mobile games for feature phones and smartphones. Its portfolio of top-rated games includes original titles Beat It!, Bonsai Blast, Brain Genius, Glyder, Jump O’Clock, Stranded, Super K.O. Boxing! and titles based on major brands from partners including Activision, Atari, Fox Mobile Entertainment, Harrah’s, Hasbro, Konami, Microsoft, PlayFirst, SEGA, Sony and Warner Bros. Founded in 2001, Glu is based in San Mateo, Calif. and has offices in Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and Spain. Consumers can find high-quality, fresh entertainment created exclusively for their mobile phones wherever they see the ‘g’ character logo or at www.glu.com. For live updates, please follow Glu via Twitter at www.twitter.com/glumobile or become a Glu fan at Facebook.com/glumobile.

Taylor is the founder of Android and Me. He resides in Dallas and carries the Samsung Galaxy S 4 and HTC One as his daily devices. Ask him a question on Twitter or Google+ and he is likely to respond. | Ethics statement

Most Tweeted This Week

I think the Open Feint is doing things the right way. They partnered with a lot of good existing games (Speedx 3D, Cestos, etc) and putting their features into these games. This way you do not have to re-download or re-purchase the programs, they update automatically. I love Fruit Ninja for the ease to play for a couple seconds and jump off. The only down side is that I need to get more of my friends on Android. Is it cross-platform yet?

“One of the major differences of the iPhone client is that all your account management takes place inside the Feint Game Spotlight app, instead of the actual game. This makes it easier to track all the games your friends are playing without having to wait for a game to load.”

Will this come to Android as well? Do you know when?
I can’t wait for this to be finished and to see all those high-profile games coming to Android!

It would also be cool to be able to see what your friends are playing through the Feint Games Spotlight and – if it’s a multiplayer game – jump right in.

I’m the developer of WordUp! I’ve been looking at OpenFeint. The concept is definitely nice, but there are few things that are going to keep me from using it right now.

1) The size of the jar file is huge. At about 350k, it’s about 1/3 the size of my game.

2) They force you to use their UI elements. Although I don’t mind giving attribution for OpenFeint, I don’t want to be forced to use their icons and widgets.

What I would love to see is a complete web API that would allow me to create a user account, submit scores to a leaderboard and retrieve scores for a leaderboard without having to incorporate their Java API. They already support some of this via HTTP with results returned in json or XML, but not all of it.

I think the Open Feint is doing things the right way. They partnered with a lot of good existing games (Speedx 3D, Cestos, etc) and putting their features into these games. This way you do not have to re-download or re-purchase the programs, they update automatically. I love Fruit Ninja for the ease to play for a couple seconds and jump off. The only down side is that I need to get more of my friends on Android. Is it cross-platform yet?

“One of the major differences of the iPhone client is that all your account management takes place inside the Feint Game Spotlight app, instead of the actual game. This makes it easier to track all the games your friends are playing without having to wait for a game to load.”

Will this come to Android as well? Do you know when?
I can’t wait for this to be finished and to see all those high-profile games coming to Android!

It would also be cool to be able to see what your friends are playing through the Feint Games Spotlight and – if it’s a multiplayer game – jump right in.

I’m the developer of WordUp! I’ve been looking at OpenFeint. The concept is definitely nice, but there are few things that are going to keep me from using it right now.

1) The size of the jar file is huge. At about 350k, it’s about 1/3 the size of my game.

2) They force you to use their UI elements. Although I don’t mind giving attribution for OpenFeint, I don’t want to be forced to use their icons and widgets.

What I would love to see is a complete web API that would allow me to create a user account, submit scores to a leaderboard and retrieve scores for a leaderboard without having to incorporate their Java API. They already support some of this via HTTP with results returned in json or XML, but not all of it.